Chance encounters are what keeps us going.

- Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

Donghae received more, smaller-sized folded cranes over the next couple of days. Sometimes, there was a note of encouragement and the odd religious quote. Most of the time, it was just the paper cranes. Donghae also noticed that the sender made a set of cranes with a different printed paper each time; so far, his favorite batch had been the fish-printed cranes.

He wasn’t as bothered by the students watching his every move now. He was nearly back to his daily routine, except for soccer practice.

By the end of the week, the mystery sender had left the fifth batch, along with a pop-up card:

Hi Donghae-sshi,

You now have a hundred paper cranes.

There’s still a long way to go to get to a thousand but I do hope, your desire to recover never wavers.

Fighting!

Donghae gave a small smile. Despite his earlier misgivings, the paper cranes were becoming a source of strength. He even bought a huge jar to store the cranes into, so he wouldn’t misplace them.

“Fishieee!” A shrill scream erupted from the end of the hallway. Donghae immediately stuffed the card inside his jacket pocket and closed his locker. In a few seconds, Lee Hyukjae would come barelling into his personal space, and all semblance of quiet and privacy he had would be lost. Eunhyuk was his best friend, but when it came to secret letters and fan memorabilia, he was the worst friend in the world. Donghae had lost count of the times Eunhyuk had gone too far and made him cry, but he found it difficult to stay mad at a pouting, miserable Eunhyuk for too long.

“Hey Hyuk,” Donghae greeted.

Eunhyuk shook him fiercely by the shoulders. “Is it true? Did you really shift to a music elective?” 

“Yeah. I requested to shift from dance class. It’s not as if I can dance with a maimed leg,” Donghae replied bitterly, pointing at his injury. “It would be a waste to do that for the whole semester.” 

“Aw, man! But we were supposed to be classmates!” Eunhyuk whined.

“You have a class full of boys and girls in tights, Hyukie. Bet you won’t even notice I’m not there.”

"Don’t be an idiot, of course I would! You’re, like, the best dance partner I ever had!’ Eunhyuk sniffed. “I'll seriously miss you, man.' 

Donghae smiled. “Yeah. Me too. But I’ll miss dancing more…”

Eunhyuk ruffled Donghae’s hair in retaliation, to Donghae’s indignant yells. Laughing, he slung an arm around Donghae's shoulders. “Alright! I’ll drop you off your class, then. I want to see if I have any competition in this new class of yours.”

Donghae just gave a hearty laugh. Eunhyuk would always be Eunhyuk. It wasn’t hard to see that they were the hottest ‘item’ in school, at one point in their lives. If only Eunhyuk wasn’t easily distracted by male and female alike, Donghae would have felt more secure with their relationship. It could have ended badly, but before being a friend and partner, Eunhyuk was a ‘brother’, and you forgive your brother just about anything. They remained great friends, even as Eunhyuk resumed his flirtatious ways. 

Sometimes, Eunhyuk invited him to meet-ups and blind dates, but when it comes to matters of love, Donghae still believed in serendipity—to simply let fate run its course. 

Donghae thought about the jar of paper cranes in his locker, and wondered if that was fate finally taking the first step.

Donghae's new class was surprisingly interesting. There were a lot of talented individuals, but they were a surprisingly friendly bunch. Donghae didn’t feel out of place or intimidated at all.

Most importantly, there was a cute guy seated right next to him. Donghae tried hard not to stare, but he couldn't help it. He was exactly his type; tall, friendly and had a very, very attractive dimpled smile. 

"Hi, I'm Choi Siwon."

He cleared his throat before replying, “Uhh, hello. I’m Lee Donghae.”

Hi Donghae-sshi,

The black aura surrounding you has finally ebbed away.

Don’t worry too much. Have faith; you can do it!

Fighting!

A/N: Since I am ashamed of myself for posting VERY short chapters. I'm trying to update every week. This is turning to a stream of consciousness thing where I just write whatever comes into mind as long as I arrive to the end of the story I plan to achieve. Anyway, thanks for viewing and reading! :)

edit: 2015-01-23 Updated Beta-ed version <3